Mande Languages (redirected from Mandinka languages)

Mande languages

Branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Mande comprises 40 languages of West Africa with more than 20 million speakers in a more or less contiguous area of southeastern Senegal, The Gambia, southern Mauritania, southwestern Mali, eastern Guinea, northern and eastern Sierra Leone, northern Liberia, and western Côte d'Ivoire. Substantial numbers are also found in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and Burkina Faso; and there are very much smaller, isolated pockets in the region. The most significant subgroup is the Mandekan complex—a continuum of languages and dialects, including those spoken by the Bambara, Malinke, Maninka, and Dyula—spoken from Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea east through Mali to Burkina Faso. Mande, spoken in Sierra Leone, also has more than a million speakers. Several independent writing systems based on the syllable were developed by speakers of Mande languages. The best-known is the Vai script, but Mende, Loma, and Kpelle also have their own scripts.

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Mande Languages 

languages related to the Congo-Kordofanian language group of the Niger-Congolese branch. The Mande languages are divided into two groups: Mande-tan (northern), and Mande-fu (southern). Mande-tan includes the Mandingo languages, Soninke, Kasonke, Aser, Konyanke, Koranko, and Vai. The Mande-fu languages include Kpelle, Mende, Toma, Shanga, and Busy. The Mande languages are spoken by 5.3 million people in Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Upper Volta, and the Ivory Coast.

Distinctive phonetic features of the Mande languages include the labiovelars k^p and g^b and the velar fricative x (Mande-fu). Tones are used to distinguish meaning; for example, pu “to put,” pù “England,” pû “cave,” and pú “ten” (Mende). Most stems are disyllabic. Words are formed with the use of suffixes.

REFERENCES

Rowlands, E. C. A Grammar of Gambian Mandinka. London, 1959.
Innes, G. A Mende Grammar. London, 1962.

I. N. TOPOROVA